Reforms and the task of getting teachers on board-Apps based attendence-The Hindu-21-09-2022

GS-2
GOVERNANCE
CONTEXT:
The State may have embarked on radical changes in the curriculum, school restructuring and the mode of teaching, but it needs to cross the main hurdle of reaching out to teachers.

Prelim and Mains :

What is aim of government in bringing reform ?

The aim is to ensure that all children have access to quality education within an equitable and inclusive classroom environment, taking into account their diverse backgrounds and different academic abilities, thereby making them active participants in the learning process.

The objective is to shift the focus from content retention to building critical thinking and problemsolving abilities, making the learning process more experiential, holistic, integrated,
enquiry driven, and enjoyable. To this, the government is redefining the tasks, the training
patterns and the professional development mode of teacher.

What are government initiative taken to bring reform in education ?

Merger of classes three to five in primary schools with high schools — will further contribute to the school dropout rate as it will deprive a large population of students who live in remote rural and tribal pockets of education.

face recognition app introduced by the School Education Department, asking teachers to download it in on their personal mobile phones and record their daily attendance.
Aadhar enabled biometric attendance system which record the entry and exist of teacher from school campus.
Introduction of UDISE : Teachers will have to be present in the school while recording their attendance, as the Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) linked system records metrics such as the longitude and latitude of the place where they are present.
Attendence Alert System : Attendance is sent to officials by SMS. Parents will also receive SMS updates on their child’s arrival and departure from school.
Benefit of attendance based on apps:
Efficiency
Accountability
Partiality
Attendance in real-time

Challenges in attendance based on attendance Apps:

Citing virtual security reasons, teacher unions are refusing to follow the instructions and have urged teachers across the State to boycott use of the app.
Poor or No Internet connectivity in villages and tribal habitations lead to crisis use and upload of attendance in attendance apps.
Every government official don’t have proper training as well as devise to operate this apps.
Conclusion :
As teachers are central to any change in the education system — they cannot be left out of the realm of the reforms underway — the government could perhaps think of employing effective motivation and, if needed, smallscale incentivisation to find a middle ground and make them partners in the ongoing journey.